British body says has not been asked to take Ethiopia black boxes

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LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s Air Accident Investigation Branch said on Wednesday it had not received any request to analyze the black boxes from Ethiopian Airlines flight 302, whose crash on Sunday prompted a number of countries to ground Boeing’s 737 MAX planes.

In Ethiopia, which lacks forensic expertise, Ethiopian Airlines said the black box voice and data recorders recovered on Monday would be sent overseas for analysis. That could be in Europe, the state company’s CEO told CNN.

“No approach has been made for the AAIB to handle the black boxes,” a spokesman for the British body, a leading contender to examine the boxes if they are analyzed outside the United States. “A decision to request that would need to come from the Ethiopian authorities.”